


Lesson Number One

by Munflour



Series: Cicero and Reyye [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Alcohol, F/M, Fluff, Hunters & Hunting, Inane fuckery, Team Bonding, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-11 16:48:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20156845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Munflour/pseuds/Munflour
Summary: The Listener trains a new initiate. Cicero is there for moral support.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! Thank you to everyone who read the last fic I wrote, I really appreciate it <3
> 
> I apologize for breaking things apart into such short chapters, but I've found that it's easiest for me to write that way since I'm so out of practice with my writing. Hopefully I'll be back to being long winded soon, haha. Thank you for reading!!

It had been several days since she had left the sanctuary, and just as many days had passed since she had been to Sovngarde. The journey there and back had been an exhilarating and violent one that left her mind and body completely drained of any energy or drive to do anything except sleep. When she finally fell into her bed at the sanctuary, her dreams were filled with the vivid colors that made up the sky of Sovngarde.

But the desire to sleep had now left her. Her bones had grown stiff from lack of movement, and there was an uncomfortable twitch in her fingers that she still remembered well. 

After many boring days of doing nothing save for sleeping and avoiding everyone in her room while Cicero organized and reorganized all of her things, it was obvious to her how she was going to spend the rest of this day. She disentangled herself from her cocoon of blankets and stretched, yawning loudly. Cicero's head snapped up from whatever he had been bent over at her desk and locked his eyes on her, grinning wildly.

She stood and stretched again, groaning as the vertebrae in her back cracked all the way down her spine. She pulled open her dresser drawer and pulled a tunic over her head, the fabric feeling strange and foreign against her skin after so many hours of it being bare. 

The legs of a chair scraped against the floor as Cicero bolted upright and ran to her, hugging her hard enough to squeeze a few stray cracks out of her back.

"Oh Listener, Cicero is so glad that you're awake!" He continued to grin down at her, eyes beaming. She raised a hand and gently patted his cheek, her lips parting in a smile.

"You're acting like you haven't seen me in weeks. I just fell asleep." She pulled away from him as he released her, frowning at her back as she turned from him.

" _ Asleep. _ " Cicero scoffed at her and rolled his eyes. "The Listener looked like a corpse."

"I doubt that I looked  _ that _ bad." Reyye shot him a scathing glance as she pulled her armor on over her tunic. "Ironically enough, I'm in the business of death." She pulled on her boots and turned to look at him with her hands on her hips, biting back a smile. "Doubly ironic: I did just visit the afterlife." 

Cicero's eyes narrowed a bit and she thought that she heard him grumble something under his breath that sounded like  _ "not ours" _ . She knew that the idea of winding up in any other place besides the Void made him uneasy to say the least, so she decided not to press it. Instead she wordlessly passed him a spare set of armor and turned to offer him privacy as he changed.

He began to hum a melody slightly off key as he stripped off his jester's garb, and she couldn't help but chuckle to herself when she heard the bells on either end of his hat jingle. A minute or two passed before the clinking of metal fastenings ceased and Cicero spoke.

_ "Ta-da!" _

Reyye turned and looked at him, unable to stop the smile that formed as he stood in front of her posing with his arms spread, his teeth bared in a mad smile.

She giggled, swiping a brown cloak from off the dresser and draping it around his shoulders. She fastened the clasp at his throat and smoothed the cloth down on his shoulders, smiling up at him. "Absolutely dapper."

Her fingers entwined themselves with his as she led him out of the room, her bow and quiver slung over her shoulder. She took the stairs up to the common room two at a time, Cicero right on her heels, cackling as he danced from stair to stair. She reached the top first and took Cicero's hand again, making her way to the table where Nazir sat poking at the food on his plate with a fork.

The redguard nodded at her in greeting as she laid her bow on the table and took the seat next to him. Cicero stood hovering at her side, muttering to himself. Nazir ignored the jester for once and instead focused on his plate, his lip curling in disgust.

"Whatever you do, do  _ not _ accept anything that new initiate offers you. I don't care how edible she claims it is." 

Reyye examined the contents of the plate; some soggy looking vegetables that were congealed in an unidentifiable mass of dark green, and a slab of charred meat that she could only assume was horker. She took the knife next to Nazir and stabbed the tip of it into the meat and used it as leverage to pry it apart with her fingers. The center of it was red and bloody. She made a face and set down the knife before wiping her fingers on a napkin.

"Noted. It's possible that she just doesn't know how to cook, I wouldn't be too harsh with her. Maybe she just needs to be taught." 

Nazir chuckled. "A hardened assassin, lecturing me about treating someone gently." He looked at her, a rare smile gracing his face. "While her cooking is… abysmally concerning, she still hasn't begun her training."

If the initiate's cooking was any indication of her other abilities, there was definitely a need to be concerned. As far as she knew, the girl hadn't been assigned any contracts yet, and Reyye herself had never seen her fight.

"What about Regis? Can't he help?" Regis was the first initiate that she had trained herself. Tall for an Imperial, Regis turned out to be quite deadly with a sword, and equally adept at remaining unseen. He had trained most of the other initiates while she was away, and each of those he trained had quickly become skilled assassins.

Nazir shook his head and rested back in his chair, absent mindedly stroking his goatee. "He's off on a contract in Markarth. Come to think of it, most of our other assassins are out as well." He fixed his eyes on her and smirked, waiting for her to connect the dots. She sighed.

"Fine. I suppose I've got enough time. Where is she?" Reyye pushed her chair back from the table and stood. Nazir nodded towards a small Breton woman as she walked into the room. Her assassin's hood was pushed back to reveal a head of striking blond hair and pale, pinkish skin.

"Initiate," the girl stopped in her tracks and looked up at her, her eyes as wide as a doe's. She stood rooted to the floor until Nazir cleared his throat loudly, then made her way over to the table. Reyye offered her a small smile, hoping to sooth her. "What's your name?"

"Uhm… I'm-" she cleared her throat and fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Vylma. My name is Vylma." Vylma looked over Reyye's shoulder at Cicero, who was staring her down intensely. Reyye stepped hard on his foot, ignoring him as he yelped and looked at her in confusion.

"You're going hunting with us today. We won't be gone for long, I want to be back in time to prepare dinner. Are you ready to leave?" 

Vylma looked at her dazedly, her mouth slightly open. "Y-yes, but I don't have a bow-" Reyye placed a hand on her forearm and guided her to the stairs. 

"I have a spare one hidden away outside the sanctuary. Come." She smiled back at her reassuringly and took Cicero's hand again as they climbed the stairs, though slower this time with the nervous initiate in tow. Reyye's stomach gave an excited flip as they neared the door and she couldn't help but smile when she pushed it open. The cold air greeted her and she inhaled it as deeply as she could, longing to fill her lungs with it's chill.

She exhaled a cloud of smoke and turned her face up to the darkening sky, smiling up at the green and blue borealis that grew even more vibrant as the sun sank lower. She broke herself away from her reverie and led her two companions away from the sanctuary and toward her hidden stash of weapons. 

She turned to them as they began to climb a hill and grinned, her cheeks flushed from excitement and the cold. "Let's go kill something."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A not so successful hunting trip. Vylma isn't too bad with a bow, though.

The way Vylma held a bow made her nervous. They began by practicing form, and while it was obvious that the girl's skill level was sub-par, she caught on rather quickly to Reyye's instructions. When her form improved and she was no longer holding the bow as if it would bite her, each of her shots came closer to hitting their mark.

Reyye could not, in all her years as Listener, recall another time when her patience was tested so thoroughly. The once inviting chill had now become a knife in her skin, and her lack of movement did little to bring about any relief.

For what seemed like the thousandth time, Reyye stood next to her student, her hands guiding the Breton's thin arms into the correct positions. She spoke in the girl's ear, her voice dropping to a lower pitch as she focused. "Draw your arm further back, your hand should be level with your ear. Straighten your back. Breathe in, and…" 

Vylma released the arrow as she exhaled, watching wide eyed as it flew threw the air and embedded itself in the center of the straw target with a muffled  _ thwack _ . 

There was a split second of stunned silence before Vylma laughed breathlessly and turned to Reyye with a wide, childlike smile. Reyye released a long held breath and sighed in relief as Vylma dropped her bow in the snow and flung her arms around Reyye's neck, crying out with glee.

She returned Vylma's embrace, sharing in the joy of her success. Cicero jumped up from his seat on a boulder and began to cheer wildly, the sound of his leather gloves colliding as he clapped his hands swallowed by the fields of snow before it was given a chance to echo. 

"Well done!" Reyye patted her on the shoulder and bent down to retrieve her bow. She dusted the snow off and handed it back to Vylma, who received it almost tearfully. "I think we're done standing around." She motioned for Cicero to join them and fished a few arrows out of her own quiver to give to Vylma. The girl's smile faded gradually and was replaced with an expression of unease, the crease between her brows deepening.

"Listener, are you sure?" She stared down at the weapon in her hands as if she were holding a rabid animal. "I wouldn't want to mess anything up…" 

Reyye frowned at her. "Nonsense. I'll make an assassin out of you yet. Stay near me and do exactly as say, exactly when I say it. You've done a well enough job of that so far." She gave Vylma's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. You'll be killing people for profit before you know it." Without further preamble, she drew her bow and knocked an arrow as she led the two of them further out into the wilds.

Cicero fell into step beside her, his expression content. She glanced over at him and smiled, quietly adoring the way his cheeks flushed red in the cold. Vylma kept up with her well enough, though would occasionally fall a few steps behind when she became winded. They were silent for a time as they walked, careful to pick their way around snow drifts and rabbit dens. They wandered in a straight line through the wilds until the terrain changed from gentle slopes to hills and steep, snowy cliffs that lay overlooking the ice fields to be teased by the wind. 

She caught Vylma looking around at their surroundings in awe, her head snapping back and forth so quickly that Reyye worried it would swivel all the way around her shoulders. She wondered to herself how much of the world the young Breton had seen in her life and made a note to take her out more for training.

Reyye scanned their horizon carefully, her body tense. Towering ridges stood on either side of them now, and far ahead of them lay a crossroads. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked and she stopped suddenly, crouching low to the ground as she waited for whatever it was that she had sensed to appear. Cicero crouched next to her and drew his sword while Vylma looked slightly petrified and stood as still as the ice around them. Reyye huffed and pulled the girl down by her sleeve, bristling.

Vylma began to speak. "Wha-"

Reyye and Cicero shushed her harshly just as an elk stepped out from behind an outcropping of rock. Cicero glanced over at her, watching her grey eyes filled with something animalistic and unreadable as she raised her bow, aiming for the elk's hindquarters.

The elk remained oblivious to them, pawing at the snow laden ground with a hoof to search for plant life. Reyye loosed her arrow and watched, breathless, as it sunk into the elk's hip. The animal let out a howl and bolted, though it was limping badly. She readied another arrow and ran after it, her footfalls muffled by the compacted snow beneath her.

She heard Vylma and Cicero at her heels and called out to them, no longer needing to be silent. "Vylma! Shoot it!" Her voice echoed off the cliffs back to her. She was right on the elk's tail now and gaining ground quickly, the sounds of Vylma's missed arrows striking stone and breaking ahead of her driving the creature further.

Reyye aimed for it again and landed her shot, the arrow striking a few inches to right of her first. The elk began to slow, and as she aimed her final killing blow, a mass of white fur streaked in front of her and pinned the elk to the ground. She cried out in rage and shock as the snow bear tore into her quarry ravenously, giving her no chance to claim the kill as her own.

Blood pooled put from beneath the elk and stained the snow around it, but the bear still remained latched onto it. She lifted her bow and roared, animalistic rage tearing her throat. " _ Bastard!" _

The bear turned towards her, it's grey muzzle streaked and stained with blood. Bits of flesh and elk entrails were caught between its teeth as it bared them at her, growling. As it lunged for her, she forgot Cicero and Vylma. She locked eyes with the beast and shot, her arrow closing the distance between them and lodging itself in the bear's eye. It fell heavily and ceased to move, tongue lolling out from between the rows of massive yellow teeth.

Reyye gazed down at it, her chest heaving from adrenaline. "Bastard. It was mine."

She stood still then and breathed, then turned her attention to the elk carcass. It was very literally torn open. There was no use for it. She sighed and turned, greeted by Cicero's excited eyes and Vylma's pale, frightened face.

"I'm so sorry Listener, I tried to shoot it, please-"

Reyye shook her head. "Don't. You haven't done anything wrong." Vylma's mouth shut when Reyye spoke, but her eyes remained pleading and afraid. Reyye reached forward and squeezed her hand reassuringly, though she was a bit too upset to smile. This seemed to comfort the girl enough that she stopped staring at her as though she waiting for Reyye to lash out at her.

Reyye huffed and pulled her quiver off her shoulder to check how many arrows she had left. There were seven. She groaned inwardly. "Some hunting trip this turned out to be." She sighed heavily and turned to Cicero. "Will you help us catch some rabbits? We can at least make stew tonight."

Cicero nodded vigorously and smiled. "Yes, Listener! You're the boss." The redness in his cheeks had spread to his nose now. She felt her heart flutter in her chest and leaned into him.

She stood on her tip toes and gripped his forearm to steady herself as she kissed his cheek. The redness in his face deepened as Vylma watched them curiously, but Reyye ignored her. "Thank you."

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reyye does everything but continue Vylma's training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This went in a weird direction. I'm really sorry.

In a few hours time, Reyye lay reclining in her bed with a glass of mead and a hot bowl of rabbit stew. Cicero was curled next to her, Reyye absentmindedly playing with his hair, his head resting on her shoulder. Vylma sat cross legged near the foot of the bed, reading aloud from _The Lusty Argonian Maid _while using absurd voices in between fits of drunken giggling. 

_ "Cleaning, eh? I have something for you. Here, polish my spear." _ She spoke in what was meant to be a masculine voice, but came out sounding more like a cough. _ "But it is huge! It could take me all night!" _She struggled to finish the last sentence in a nasally, high pitched voice and dissolved into more laughter, tears leaking out from the corner of her eyes.

Reyye watched her in silent amusement, struggling desperately to contain her own laughter. Cicero regarded the two of them with what appeared to be mild confusion.

Vylma took a swig of her mead and choked on another fit of giggles, involuntarily spitting the alcohol into her lap. Reyye passed her a towel, swearing to herself that she wouldn't be upset unless there was mead on her blankets. Vylma appeared oblivious but dabbed at the wet spot on her skirt with the towel.

"It's- it's funny because-" she hiccuped and inhaled shakily, tittering. "It's funny because they're talking about his dick."

Reyye choked on her stew at that and Cicero flew upright, pulling her up into a sitting position and patting her roughly on the back. Vylma continued to laugh, mead sloshing out of the glass in her hand and onto the bed. Reyye cringed inwardly and sighed, deciding that she would ignore it. Just this once.

"And-and-" Vylma coughed, her face turning a worrying shade of red. "It's so funny. Whose dick-" she coughed on her laughter again. "Whose dick is _ that _ long?!" Her raucous laughter echoed about the room again and Reyye found herself laughing along, either from the penis joke or too much mead. It was probably both. Cicero watched her curiously, but his lips threatened to form a smile as he watched her laugh. She leaned against him and held his hand under the covers, stroking his hand with her thumb. He smiled then and relaxed into her, brushing his lips against her shoulder.

"I don't know Vylma, I've seen a few quite impressive ones." Cicero's cheeks turned pink with what she could safely translate as jealousy, and he mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't quite catch. For all his madness, he did follow along with their conversations well enough.

Vylma looked between the two of them silently for a moment before she cackled and nearly toppled over the side of the bed in the throes of hysteria.

"You -_ hic- _ l-o-v-e her! You- you should have… babies! Or a _ -hic- _wedding!" She burst into a fit of giggles as Reyye blushed and Cicero appeared as if he were being absorbed by the blankets. The two of them sat awkwardly, refusing to look at one another. 

To their relief Vylma quickly jumped to a different subject. "Wait, where's the book… I want to read again about this guys d_ -hic- _ick..." 

Reyye looked up from Vylma's drunken spectacle in time to see Babette slip in through the door, her eyes questioning. Reyye could only grin at her and silently implore the woman-child to wait, lest she ruin whatever tangent Vylma dove into next.

Babette understood the look Reyye gave her and hovered near the doorway in waiting. Reyye reached for her glass with her free hand and sipped more mead to help clear her throat to prepare her for whatever Vylma decided to say next. She wasn't disappointed.

Vylma held up a finger for silence as she downed the rest of her mead and opened the book to a dog eared page. "If I were a man, I'd… I'd have the biggest, longest penis, I swear before Sith-_ hic _ -is. I wouldn't ever need a sword! That's how… how I'd use my - _ hic _\- penis."

Babette sighed and gave the initiate an almost disappointed glare as she crossed the room to the bedside where Vylma sat. "What, in the name of Sithis, is going on in here, Listener?" 

"_ Fuck!" _ Vylma jumped when she noticed Babette standing next to her, the glass flying out of her hand and shattering on the floor.

Reyye snorted. Babette blinked at the shattered glass in surprise, and the expression on her face made Vylma laugh. "I honestly have no idea, but if I'm not half as drunk as Vylma is by the end of the night, I want you to shoot me."

The vampire sighed and raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you _ really _ think I'm going to stick around and wait for that to happen?"

___________

  


Three hours later, Vylma had thrown up twice in an urn and Reyye was so drunk that she could hardly stand. The sounds of their drunken laughter had carried far enough out into the rest of the sanctuary that a small handful of the other initiates had wandered in to join them. Cicero had taken the opportunity of an audience to play the lute and sing slightly off key, much to the distaste of Nazir, who sat down the hall in his quarters brooding.

Vylma had somehow managed to locate enough copies of _ The Lusty Argonian Maid _ for most of them to pair up with one if they wanted to.

Somehow that is exactly what happened.

They all sat in a circle around the room, with Reyye sprawled out on her bed while Vylma lay cuddling one of her boots, snoring softly. Cicero sat perched on her chest and plucked chords on a lute. Babette sat in a chair against the dresser with her legs crossed, balancing the open book on her knee. 

Regis had returned from his Markarth contract, and wandered in to find Reyye handing out books to initiates in her underwear. He, surprisingly, opted to stay with them after that.

"Eri, will you be the maid?" Regis glanced up at the only other nord in the room who wasn't too proud to read erotica aloud to a group of people.

Eri nodded enthusiastically mid drink, some matze one of the dunmer initiates brought dripping onto the pages of her book. "You got it, babe. One horny lizard impression coming right up."

Regis grinned. "Excellent. Do we have a Crantius?"

Reyye sat up so quickly that the room spun violently around her. She waved her arms wildly to get Regis' attention, swallowing back bile.

Regis shot her a confused look."You want to be Crantius?" 

"_ No! _ But I know the perfect person, just give me a second." She cleared her throat and sat up straighter, struggling to clear the haze of alcohol out of her mind as she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Cicero's strumming on the lute ceased and he gasped, staring transfixed as a blue mist took shape by the side of Reyye's bed. The most swirled and churned in the air as it took the silhouette of a humanoid shape. Within a few seconds time the shape became a transparent man shrouded in Assassin's robes. The spectre turned its hollow eyes to Reyye, its expression unreadable.

"Hail Sithis. How may I serve you, Listener?"

There were a chorus of gasps and exclamations from the circle of assassins, all of who stared at the spectral assassin stupidly in their drunken state.

Cicero waved at the ghost cheerily, grinning madly. "Hello, Lucien!"

Lucien stared at him, his silence communicating confusion. After an uncomfortable amount of time, he bowed his head in a nod towards the Jester. "Cicero."

Reyye whistled at him and began to gesture wildly again until Lucien turned his attention back towards her.

"How may I serve you, Listener?"

"Lucien! My guy, my brother, my murdering pal… I've got a favor to ask… We need _ you _," she passed a book to him, using her finger to mark the page she wanted him to read. He accepted it silently as the rest of the room watched the two of them. "To read the sections titled Crantius Colto. Aloud." She folded her hands in her lap and smiled up at him, waiting for a response.

Lucien's silence was menacing and thick with confusion. Some of the initiates fidgeted in their seats and exchanged glances nervously.

"... is this an order, Listener?"

Reyye nodded seriously. "Yes. I'm ordering you to read this porn out loud for me. In the name of Sithis, read us this porn." 

Lucien stared down at the book in his hands for what seemed like several minutes. Reyye waited, watching him as she held her breath. The entire room was turned towards him. Even Cicero stared him down, the lute he held in his hands forgotten. Babette poured herself another glass of wine and took a sip as she observed them with an even expression.

The turning of a page broke the silence and the bass of Lucien's voice filled the room as he read:

_ "Is that all you have come here for, little one? My chambers?"_

_\- - -_


End file.
